Martin Hanzal to Dallas, trying to do what he couldn’t with Wild

The road to the Stanley Cup in the Western Conference is littered with broken down contenders that couldn’t match their opponents’ strength at center; or, with the emergence of the Nashville Predators and the potential of the Calgary Flames with their respective top four defensemen, couldn’t generate offense beyond their top two lines.

Hanzal, 30, is a hulking 6-foot-5, wins faceoffs and had 39 points in 71 games last season. He’s excellent in the faceoff circle for a team that was under 50 percent in faceoffs last season (No. 14 in the NHL).

Which is to say he’s a piece of the puzzle, which is fine for the Stars. They have Tyler Seguin. They have Jason Spezza. Now they have Hanzal at a $4.75 million hit, less than a million more than the $3.85 million they were paying Cody Eakin before he was plucked by the Golden Knights.

“Martin is a very detailed player who competes at high level,” said GM Jim Nill. “He is one of the League’s best centermen in the faceoff circle and his complete set of abilities will improve us in several facets of the game.”

Not a bad move at all for the next two seasons, provided Hanzal excels in that third-line role in which we assume Ken Hitchcock will cast him. But we might have hoped this was a two-year deal, just for the added cap flexibility when Seguin’s up in 2019.